This disclosure concerns an invention used to deter motor vehicle collisions with animals, and more specifically to provide a means of altering a standard motor vehicle horn in a manner such that the noise alerts animals, particularly deer, to the presence of an approaching vehicle.
As humans and animals compete for space, and as roads and development continue to be created in former wilderness areas, vehicle collisions with large animals such as deer, moose, elk, and the like, are becoming increasingly common. Vehicle-animal auto accidents have become problematic in many regions of the U.S., and often result in the loss of human and animal life. Additionally, these collisions, and the damage to vehicles and property that result, place a large financial burden on individual drivers, and the transportation industry as a whole.
In response to the problem of vehicle-animal collisions, numerous warning devices for avoiding highway collisions with animals are currently available. One type of device, as exemplified by the device of U.S. Pat. No. 4,150,637, works on the principle of ultrasonic wave generation and is commonly known as a xe2x80x9cdeer whistle.xe2x80x9d The device is attached to a vehicle""s forward bumper, usually by means of an adhesive strip. As the vehicle travels down a roadway in excess of 30 miles per hour, the resultant air movement through the device is said to generate ultrasonic waves. The ultrasonic waves purportedly deter deer from entering the roadway, thereby preventing car/deer collisions. However, the efficacy of deer whistles has been called into question. Initially, some studies have indicated that the animals that are most prone to vehicle-animal collisions do not hear sounds over the range of ultrasonic frequencies at which the deer whistles operate. There are also serious questions as to whether the deer whistles produce ultrasonic sound of appreciable amplitude over the standard range of vehicle operating speeds. Further, the whistles are often rendered inoperative by rain, snow, road debris, and insects clogging the mechanism. Some electrically powered ultrasonic generators (as in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,516,384, 4,998,091, and 5,278,537) can overcome some of the aforementioned problems, but they are still reliant on ultrasonic sound to move animals away from the vehicle, and such reliance may be displaced. Thus, ultrasonic sound generators may not only be ineffective as an animal deterrent, they may also be damaging in that they cause a false sense of security in the drivers that use them; the drivers may become more dependent upon the whistles and less apt to slow down and be watchful for hazards.
Another device, illustrated in U.S. Pat. No. 5,832,431, uses prerecorded sounds such as barking dogs, shotgun blasts, etc., broadcast through a speaker attached to the vehicle as it moves down the road. Installation of such a system would often be difficult and expensive, and coherent sounds which are recognizable (but uncommon in the driving environment, such as gun blasts) may pose a safety hazard because they are bothersome and surprising to other drivers.
There is also a need for a system that can be easily incorporated into motor vehicle electronics. These electronics systems need to operate consistently in extreme heat, cold, moisture, and dryness, often with xe2x80x9cdirtyxe2x80x9d power supplies (i.e., with non-steady current/voltage conditions and potentially disabling transient xe2x80x9cspikesxe2x80x9d), and inconsistent environmental conditions.